Olivia: Wherein I Try To Mask My Massive Disappointment and Jealousy

Dining scene abuzz with new Olivia restaurant

This was the restaurant that Richard and I were supposed to enjoy during our visit to Austin this past weekend.  Sadly, grownup life interferred and I was chained to Houston (and a long-postponed bathroom remodel) instead.  Noelle and Cory — with whom we were supposed to dine that night — blogged about their trip to Olivia, which should make me happy that at least some friends were able to enjoy a fantastic time.  I, however, remain totally wrapped in childish resentment and hatred for them and their fancy dinner.

Okay, so I’m not that terrible…  But take a look at Noelle’s post on Olivia (and the pictures!!!) and tell me you’re not just an eensy bit jealous yourselves:

Olivia

I would have stabbed each and every one of you to get at those lamb tongues.  Also, are the drawings the most fabulous thing ever?  Or what?  And I love the “Age: 33” and “Age: 35” on both.  Nice touches, guys.  🙂

And as if you needed one more reason to be jealous of them?  They were on Trading Spaces a couple of years back and apparently got a pretty bad-ass couch out of the deal.  Damn you, Noelle and Cory!

A Kiss For A Pomegranate

We haven’t had a food poem in a while, so I dug up a juicy one for y’all…

Today’s poem is from Alberto Rìos, an Arizonan poet born in 1952 who inhabited two worlds growing up: the Mexican world of his father and the English world of his mother.  The result is the kind of poetry that reminds me strongly of Gabriel García Márquez’s magical short stories.  Today, Rìos is the Regents’ Professor of English at Arizona State University (coincidentally, my incredibly talented uncle is the Regents’ Professor of English at the University of Arizona just up the road) and recently published a memoir about growing up on the Mexican-U.S. border, called Capirotada: A Nogales Memoir.

I love everything about this poem: the feeling of anticipation, the palpable energy from the crowd and from Ventura herself, the way that Rìos sets the scene so perfectly that you can taste the dust in the air, feel the heat of the sun and the jostle of elbows, hear the livestock scuttling underfoot, and grasp the sense of grandeur and awe that can come from one small kiss.

The Pomegranate and the Big Crowd

Ventura because she was hungry and because
She was curious—but more because she was curious—
Took the dare, a kiss for a pomegranate.
Everyone gathered, her friends and his. Everyone
Watched: the boys, the girls, the pigs and the chickens,
And more. Moving to the front were the children
She and Clemente would one day have,
And the children of those children, too,
Gathered and loud with everyone and everything else,
Loud as the pigs and fast as the chickens
Though she could not see them.
Still, they crowded her, and she could feel
Their anxious breathing.
This boy Clemente whom she would kiss
She would have kissed even without the pomegranate,
Though she could not say it
And was glad of this game. He suited her,
She thought. He had a strong face.
He felt what she felt. She could see him look around
But not at their friends. She could see him
Feel the shiver of the children they would have:
Their son Margarito, his two sisters
Both of whom would become nuns
If just to pray enough to take care of him,
This boy so serious he would seem like a stranger
In their arms, serious enough by himself
To make up for Clemente and Ventura
And for all the laughter
They themselves would feel,
This curious child who, as an old man
Would never trust a doctor for anything.
And his serious wife to come, Refugio,
And her sisters, Matilde and Consuelo as well,
All the people who would follow this kiss,
So many of them, and their children, too,
Everyone stood there, arms up, everyone watching,
So much noise in this moment,
This quick lending of herself
To his cheek, the way Ventura would later kiss
All these impatient children of theirs. The kiss
Seemed so small, but was filled with itself.
This small moment of affection she gave this boy
The quarter-second that it took:
There they all stood, waiting with the crowd
Egging them on, hefting the pomegranate
And pushing them toward each other.
Clemente and Ventura in that quarter-second lived
Their lives, a quarter-second not finished yet.

tenacity: Summer’s End

Randy Rucker has put together another excellent menu for his upcoming tenacity dinner, one that showcases some of my favorite summer foods in his own different and powerful way:

  • Japanese hamachi, daikon radish, watercress consommé & ruby red grapefruit
  • Live scallop, badia a coltibuono olive oil, preserved papaya puree & candied kombu
  • Composition of tomatoes, fromage blanc & shaved bonito
  • Local corn soup, miso, Gulf shrimp & malabar spinach
  • Confit of Louisiana frog’s legs, fennel, smoked potato gnocchi & foamy parmesan water
  • Crispy pork rillette, celery branch, almond cream, green apple & kecap manis
  • Soft bittersweet chocolate, basil seeds, sweet & sour hijiki & cherimoya soup

If you know me at all, you know I’m excited about the frog’s legs in particular.  Frog’s legs are one of my favorite meals — and an underappreciated one, at that — a Southern treat, the sweet, delicate meat of the legs rivaling any other meat you’ve ever tasted.  I’m fascinated to see what Randy does with this particular item, and how it will pair with some of the more exotic dishes, such as the Japanese hamachi and the live scallop.

The rest of the menu, however, seems to be inspired by Randy’s old restaurant, laidback manor.  The intricate, experimental dishes made with deeply Southern ingredients — Gulf shrimp, local corn, tomatoes — this is a Randy Rucker dinner you don’t want to miss if you’re still grieving over the loss of laidback manor.

The dinner will be at the Modern B&B tomorrow night, September 4th.  Randy is still taking reservations; you can RSVP by emailing him at rrucker79 at hotmail dot com.  And just to refresh your memories on how awesome his dinners are, read on:

tenacity

tenacity, part two

Regurgitation

It’s been a busy week, folks.  And not just for me:

Restaurant News Recap

I may or may not try to make this a semi-regular feature on Houstonist.  The pro is that I think it’s nice to have all the news aggregated in one area, so that you don’t have to skip around to a bunch of different news articles and food blogs to catch up on all the news that’s flying around.  Plus, I really enjoy linking people to food blogs that deserve attention and could possibly gain new readers as a result.

The con is that I really don’t enjoy regurgitating someone else’s news.  That’s why I tried to keep each item short and sweet and just link back to the original article.

Y’all tell me what you think.  Should I try to make this a regular feature for Houstonist?  Or just let the news filter out into the world in its natural progression?

Gone But Not Forgotten

I have two things working against me when it comes to experiencing those massive, sensory-explosion-filled waves of nostalgia that so many other people seem to have all the time: (1) I’m only 27 (not too much nostalgia-provoking experience at this age) and (2) I have the world’s worst memory, both with regard to short-term and long-term.  Seriously; ask anyone.  I’m one lame brain cell away from being that guy in Memento.  And I’ll most definitely never be able to write a lengthy, detailed memoir like Toast or Tender at the Bone, much to the great relief of my family I’m sure.

The good thing is that even though I’m pretty much incapable of remembering things on my own, I’m able to remember large chunks of things if I’m somehow reminded of them.  I ran across three things this week that allowed me to indulge in a little bit of restaurant-related nostalgia, for which I’m grateful and happy, and wanted to share them with y’all:

As for my own memories, I still miss Showbiz Pizza (NOT Chuck E. Cheese, thankyouverymuch), a place that I’m pretty sure was called Houlihan’s which used to hand out really cool boxes of crayons, a restaurant over here in Memorial called Thai Flower (or, again, something along those lines) where I first tried Thai food and the original Sam’s Deli Diner before it moved across the freeway and cleaned itself up (no more vagrants occupying the tables at all hours of the day or broken arcade machines lining the walls…).  I also miss the old Continental Finer Foods, a great old grocery store with an enclosed produce section haplessly made up to look like a Parisian street or some such nonsense.

What do you miss?

Tuesday Trivia: Part 33 1/3

Wow.  So…it’s Tuesday.  Already.  …yeah.

Did this weekend pass too quickly for everyone else, or just me?  I don’t even have a Weekend in Food to share with you guys; that’s how exciting and eventful my weekend was.  Most of the three-day Labor Day extravaganza was spent (a) at the city dump on Windfern, (b) installing toilets and tile, (c) maniacally operating the world’s loudest tile saw, (d) breaking my toe, and (e) toiling amidst the bugs and humidity in the backyard.

I didn’t put any effort whatsoever towards food (or writing) this weekend, the end result being that I don’t feel like I even ate anything.  Which I clearly did, because…waistband on pants is hatefully snug today.  Ugh.  And that’s after having a dry baked potato with a dollop of salsa for dinner!  Whatever.

High point of the weekend?  Watching The Darjeeling Limited last night.  Please allow me to highly recommend this if you’re a fan of Wes Anderson‘s work (excluding The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, obviously) or Adrien Brody‘s work.  I realize these might be two distinct categories of people, but this was a serious return to form for Anderson and a brilliantly understated performance by Brody, so both parties should be happy.  Oh, yes, and Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman and Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray, blah blah Rushmore-and-Tenenbaums-cakes.  It was all great.  Loved it.  Especially the luggage.

Which leads us into today’s Tuesday Trivia which, once again, has a theme.  But unlike last week’s themed trivia, this one is open-ended.  Hope you enjoy!

  1. What is your favorite English-language movie about food?  Suggestions include Big Night, Chocolat, Ratatouille, The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover, et al.
  2. What is your favorite foreign-language movie about food?  Suggestions include Babette’s Feast, Like Water For Chocolate, La Grande Bouffe, Eat Drink Man Woman, et al.
  3. If you could have the cast of a movie over for dinner, living or dead, which cast would you invite?
  4. If you could have the kitchen from any movie in your own home, which kitchen would you choose?
  5. Switching gears for a second (but still staying in the food & media genre), what is your favorite cooking show currently on television?
  6. BONUS:  What is your favorite no-longer-televised cooking show from days past?

See you all tomorrow for a little nugget of food poetry.  It’s been too long!

Musical Restaurants

Some exciting news, courtesy of my friend Plinio Sandalio, pastry chef extraordinaire…

Both Chef Jonathan Jones and Plinio have left the new Americas in The Woodlands.  I’m not going to make any remarks on the Cordua group‘s remarkable ability to hire amazing chefs (i.e. Randy Rucker) and then mysteriously lose them, since I don’t know the ins and outs of their business or what goes on behind the scenes.  All I’m going to say is that we’re very lucky to have Jonathan and Plinio back in Houston where they belong.

Jonathan will be the new head chef at Monica Pope’s modern/upscale icehouse cum barbeque joint (it’s indefinable, I tell ya…) Beaver’s, where he’s taking the place of Dax McAnear, who will be working with Scott Tycer at his highly-anticipated Heights restaurant, Textile.  Phew!

Joining Scott Tycer’s motley brigade is Plinio, who will be the new pastry chef at Gravitas (where he has big plans to totally shake up their dessert menu) and could potentially be at Textile, too.  The prospect of working at both restaurants is exciting since, according to Plinio, “it would be a perfect balance of bistro desserts and modern desserts.”  I’m excited, too!

Playing musical restaurants in Houston seems to be the de rigeur activity, as Chef Olivier Ciesielski left Tony’s last week to pursue a private venture and CIA-trained, Italian-imported Francesco Casetta took his place.  The important thing, though, is that Houston is retaining all of this talent and expanding our culinary footprint.  It’s only fitting for the fourth-largest city in America that we start catching up with New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago after all this time.

For more insight into the move, read Misha’s article at Tasty Bits: Plinio Sandalio Now at Gravitas.

UPDATE: Alison Cook at the Houston Chronicle has more news here: Jonathan Jones is the new chef at Beaver’s.  The comments section here is quite interesting…and dead-on correct.

Fung’s Kitchen

As promised, a (kinda-sorta) review of our dim sum brunch at Fung’s Kitchen last Sunday:

Houstonist Bites: Fung’s Kitchen

Pictures abound, thanks to Olivia, one of the newest Chowhound recruits.

I’m telling you, if you haven’t joined Houston Chowhounds (and you live in Houston…), you really should check it out.  We have all kinds of fun, random adventures and we make excellent dining companions.  It’s particularly good if you’re a food person and your friends and/or significant other aren’t.  There’s always at least one or two Chowhounds who are up for brunch, lunch, dinner, a crosstown trip to a taqueria or an afternoon picking out fish in Kemah.

Meanwhile, Jenny at I’m Never Full posted a great photo essay of our brunch, complete with the correct Cantonese names for the dishes (I’m so hopelessly white sometimes…).  Go check it out!

Thursday Answers

Watch out for The Grumpy Chef, y’all!  He got every single answer right this week, for an impressive score of 100%.  He is, indeed, one of our master trivia players ’round these parts.  Go show the curmudgeonly chef some love over at his site, Who Dares Cook, where you’ll gain all kinds of interesting insight into the inner-workings of an English restaurant.

Ready for the answers?  At your service…

  1. Basil, incredibly.  And this bizarre thought persisted until the 18th century!
  2. Mulberries, according to the sad story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
  3. Garlic, which couldn’t possibly be of the devil!  It’s just too wonderful!  Or could it?
  4. Apples, which were also considered to be the food of the gods.
  5. The swastika, long an Eastern symbol of good luck before being misappropriated by some German idiots in the 20th century.
  6. Cocoa, leading us back to last week’s mild obsession with chocolate.

Congrats to all who played — including the first player, Chris, who got all but one answer correct, and healthyhoustonfoodie and Pooh!, who also got 100% of the answers correct but were beaten to the punch by The Grumpy Chef.

I’ll see y’all back here next week for a slightly different Tuesday Trivia…  🙂

Lady Who Lunches

Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?  Oh, well.

My husband and I didn’t carpool into work today, since he has a happy hour to attend afterwards, so today was one of the rare days that I had my car at work.  I ventured out into the sunshine at lunch to get a tuna sandwich from A Moveable Feast and do a little snooping.

A Moveable Feast is such a trip of a store, I just love going there.  It’s an oasis of healthy, crunchy, granola, hippie-dom in the uptight, snotty Memorial Villages.  The store itself is partially obscured by the riotously colorful jardin sauvage out front, attracting dragonflies and bees by the hundreds. Inside is a bounty of natural products, vitamins, foods, hair and skin care products and attached to the store is a cute little cafe, which features one of my all-time favorite signs next to the register:

FOR THE COURTESY OF PEOPLE IN LINE BEHIND YOU,
NO TALKING ON CELL PHONES ALLOWED

Right on.  The semi-bitchy girl who always runs the register has no problem enforcing it, either.  The equally bitchy Memorial Village housewives who trek in here on a regular basis — attempting to look young and trendy and “caring” by purchasing natural deodorant or meatless chili — aren’t fans of the edict, as you might imagine.  It makes for some memorable scenes, which are in and of themselves worth the price of a tuna sandwich.

Exiting past the masseuse who always looks like an older, stoned Jason Bateman, my sandwich and I took a short drive around the Villages.  Kobe Japanese Restaurant has already moved from its old location off Bunker Hill and into the spot formerly occupied by Blockbuster (sharing space with an On The Border, which is inexplicably always busy despite having terrible food) off Echo Lane.

The old Kobe sits abandoned, waiting for the inevitable wrecking ball to hit.  Strangely, La Fiesta is still open, directly next door.  They were getting a fresh shipment from Avocado King as I passed today.  The rest of the center has been utterly destroyed, save for a few ragged stumps jutting off from La Fiesta.  I wonder when they’ll finally give up the ghost…or be forced to.

Ciro’s was still intact, as I imagined it would be, although I’m still fascinated by the mix-up on both the sewer disconnect permit and the demolition permit.  Thinking that perhaps Charlie’s Hamburgers or the ticky-tacky Darque Tan was demolished instead, I drove past.  Both are still in business, Charlie’s with a line of cars out front as usual.  Rumors indicate that Charlie’s will be closed soon, too, but I have yet to see anything concrete on that.

Back in the office now, obviously, and it’s time to finally eat my sandwich.  Answers to Tuesday Trivia coming soon…